Heather Stewart's economics comment + Eurozone crisis | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/business/series/heather-stewart-s-economics-comment+debt-crisis
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017Fri, 18 Aug 2017 06:23:49 GMT2017-08-18T06:23:49Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2017The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
Nerds and bank lock-ins: things I’ll miss about the numbers gamehttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/03/things-i-will-miss-about-the-numbers-game
Our outgoing economics editor on what she will regret not having to deal with in the world of politics<p>As I depart this pleasant berth to cover politics for the <em>Guardian</em>, after almost 15 years writing about the twists and turns of the global economy, there are plenty of things I will leave behind lightly – not least a dusty pile of unread books – but, if you will excuse the self-indulgence, dear readers, here are a few things I’m missing already:</p><p><strong>Nerds</strong><br>Call them what you like: wonks, number-crunchers, analysts, every field has its experts; but economists are in a class of their own. With their baffled insouciance about anyone who fails to share their interpretation of the facts – and on occasion, blind fury about the stubborn irrationality of politicians, regulators, and most of all their rival economists, they are an extraordinary tribe.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/03/things-i-will-miss-about-the-numbers-game">Continue reading...</a>EconomicsBusinessBank of EnglandInterest ratesQuantitative easingStock marketsEurozone crisisAndy HaldaneSun, 03 Jan 2016 08:59:32 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/03/things-i-will-miss-about-the-numbers-gamePhotograph: David Levene for the GuardianPhotograph: David Levene for the GuardianHeather Stewart2016-01-03T08:59:32ZEurope has taken charge of Greece like a television nannyhttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/16/europe-taken-charge-greece-like-three-day-nanny
The publication last week of the debt deal signed by Alexis Tsipras has laid bare an alarming programme of social revolution and pervasive oversight<p>On Channel 4’s <em>The Three Day Nanny</em>, modern-day Mary Poppins Kathryn Mewes arrives in a household of tantrum-prone tots and has just 72 hours to transform them with tough love and discipline into model family members. Judging by Greece’s latest bailout deal, its lenders, led by the German government, are adopting much the same approach.</p><p>It was already clear in the wake of eurozone leaders’ marathon all-night talks last month that the governing leftist party Syriza was being punished for its temerity in challenging the eurozone orthodoxy of austerity.</p><p>Once it gets down to the nitty-gritty, the abrogation of political control signalled by the memorandum is extraordinary</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/16/europe-taken-charge-greece-like-three-day-nanny">Continue reading...</a>Eurozone crisisEuropean UnionEuropean monetary unionEconomicsBankingEuropean banksFinancial crisisFinancial sectorEuroEuropeWorld newsBusinessSun, 16 Aug 2015 08:00:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/16/europe-taken-charge-greece-like-three-day-nannyPhotograph: Jamie Simonds/Channel 4Kathryn Mewes, the Three Day Nanny. Photograph: Jamie Simonds/Channel 4Photograph: Jamie Simonds/Channel 4Kathryn Mewes, the Three Day Nanny. Photograph: Jamie Simonds/Channel 4Heather Stewart2015-08-16T08:00:06ZGreece’s misery shows we need Chapter 11 bankruptcy for countrieshttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/24/greece-misery-need-chapter-11-bankruptcy-for-countries
Argentina defaulted in 2001, and is still not free of its creditors. There needs to be a clear resolution to the blight of vulture funds and neverending austerity<p>Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s combative prime minister, is facing yet another week of fraught negotiations as he and his team struggle to agree a shopping list of economic reforms stringent enough to appease the country’s creditors, but different enough from the grinding austerity of the past five years to satisfy the Greek electorate.</p><p>And all the while, bank deposits will leach out of the country, investment plans will remain on hold and consumers hammered by years of austerity will continue living hand to&nbsp;mouth.</p><p>The aim would be to impose a debt write-off significant enough to make future repayments manageable</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/24/greece-misery-need-chapter-11-bankruptcy-for-countries">Continue reading...</a>AusterityChapter 11 - corporate bankruptciesGreeceEconomicsEuropeUnited NationsUnctadEurozone crisisEuropean UnionEuropean monetary unionBankingBusinessWorld newsSun, 24 May 2015 08:05:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/24/greece-misery-need-chapter-11-bankruptcy-for-countriesPhotograph: Petros Giannakouris/APGreece's Alexis Tsipras: more fraught negotiations in prospect. Photograph: Petros Giannakouris/APPhotograph: Petros Giannakouris/APGreece's Alexis Tsipras: more fraught negotiations in prospect. Photograph: Petros Giannakouris/APHeather Stewart2015-05-24T08:05:06ZSyriza’s cleaners show why economics needs a new broomhttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/01/syriza-cleaners-economics-needs-new-broom-greece
The theoretical, rational model of Economic Man has a major shortcoming – he’s not, and never could be, a woman<p>Among the most uplifting images from Syriza’s victory in Greece last week were the elated faces of a small group of fiercely determined women: the public sector cleaners who were laid off during the country’s brutal budget cuts and had been told they would be swiftly re-hired by the new government.</p><p>The fate of a few low-paid mop operatives is a world away from the cut and thrust of international negotiations on debt relief for Greece. Yet it has so often been the fate of working-class women – standing in the bread queues, scrabbling to feed their families, laid off in their droves in the public sector job cuts mandated by the country’s troika of creditors – that has best illustrated the despair to which many in the recession-ravaged country have been driven.</p><p>Models conceived of people as cool, rational, simplified robots who beetle around trying to maximise their utility</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/01/syriza-cleaners-economics-needs-new-broom-greece">Continue reading...</a>AusterityEconomic policyWomenSyrizaGreeceEurozone crisisFinancial crisisEconomicsWorld newsBusinessPoliticsSun, 01 Feb 2015 09:05:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/01/syriza-cleaners-economics-needs-new-broom-greecePhotograph: Lefteris Piatarakis/APPublic sector cleaners in Athens listening to the announcement from Syriza's finance minister that they are to be re-hired. Photograph: Lefteris Piatarakis/APPhotograph: Lefteris Piatarakis/APPublic sector cleaners in Athens listening to the announcement from Syriza's finance minister that they are to be re-hired. Photograph: Lefteris Piatarakis/APHeather Stewart2015-02-01T09:05:09ZHeather Stewart: If Latvia is a bailout success story, be very scared of failurehttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/dec/11/latvia-bailout-eurozone-debt-crisis
Germany believes the only solution to the euro crisis is painful austerity measures – but if everyone's slashing and burning, who is buying?<p>David Cameron flew back from Brussels to a hero's welcome from his Eurosceptic backbenchers and a storm of protest from his coalition partners, who believe that by thumping his metaphorical handbag on the table, he's set Britain on course for economic and political isolation. But while the UK is sucked into an existential debate about its role in the world, the question that really matters in the short term is whether this weekend's deal will safeguard the euro.</p><p>Unfortunately, despite the self-congratulatory rhetoric from Merkozy, the single currency is no more secure this week than it was at the end of the last make-or-break summit in October.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/dec/11/latvia-bailout-eurozone-debt-crisis">Continue reading...</a>Eurozone crisisLatviaBusinessSun, 11 Dec 2011 00:06:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/dec/11/latvia-bailout-eurozone-debt-crisisPhotograph: Francois Lenoir/REUTERSDavid Cameron arriving at the European Union summit in Brussels. His stand against the EU Treaty won him plaudits with his party's Eurosceptics, but may have little impact on the debt crisis. Photograph: François Lenoir/ReutersPhotograph: Francois Lenoir/REUTERSDavid Cameron arriving at the European Union summit in Brussels. His stand against the EU Treaty won him plaudits with his party's Eurosceptics, but may have little impact on the debt crisis. Photograph: François Lenoir/ReutersHeather Stewart2011-12-11T00:06:00ZThese bailouts aren't democracy. What's worse, they aren't even a rescuehttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/nov/13/bailouts-arent-democracy-they-arent-even-a-rescue
The idea that Italy's and Greece's new technocratic governments will be apolitical is nonsense. And it's becoming clear that, in Athens, austerity is already turning a crisis into a disaster<p>Investors are breathing a sigh of relief after a tumultuous week, with at least a semblance of stability restored to Italy and Greece. But the past seven days have also flipped the euro to reveal a new face – and it wasn't a pretty one.</p><p>The deeply undemocratic nature of the euro project had already been laid bare in Cannes by the European elite's outraged response to George Papandreou's announcement that he would hold a referendum on the latest "rescue" package for his country.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/nov/13/bailouts-arent-democracy-they-arent-even-a-rescue">Continue reading...</a>Eurozone crisisEconomic recoveryGlobal economyEconomicsBusinessEconomic policyPoliticsItalyGreeceAusteritySun, 13 Nov 2011 00:06:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/nov/13/bailouts-arent-democracy-they-arent-even-a-rescuePhotograph: Yannis Behrakis/ReutersPrime minister Lucas Papademos of Greece: his supposedly technocratic government will have to make hugely politically contentious decisions. Photograph: Yannis Behrakis/ReutersPhotograph: Yannis Behrakis/ReutersPrime minister Lucas Papademos of Greece: his supposedly technocratic government will have to make hugely politically contentious decisions. Photograph: Yannis Behrakis/ReutersHeather Stewart2011-11-13T00:06:06Z